I know that the suspense of yesterday's post was killing you all. Yes, I indeed finished Oolong before I left for NY (so that's 7 dresses in 6 days!). As you can tell from the photo, it was getting late and rainy so I didn't feel like doing a really stylish shoot. After I finished the dress, I packed, headed to the airport and ended up finally leaving at 1:00am (weather delayed the flight). But I did it!

It's funny that I dreaded Oolong for the entire challenge and it ended up being the easiest dress to sew. Even despite my sewing machine. You see, after the machine broke during Rooibos, I decided to do this entire dress using my serger. Now that's really living dangerously. I the serger was set to do a rolling serge instead of a cutting serge for I feared I'd make a mistake that I wouldn't be able to undo. But it worked! And, I have to say, an entirely serged dress looks pretty clean inside. The only thing that I couldn't do was the hem — but I'll give myself a pass for that one.

So how could I possibly finish this dress in 2 hours?

I didn't add the lining. I had email Sarai from Colette Patterns asking if it was essential to have a lining since the pattern includes facing pieces for the neckline. She said no, that it just prevents the dress from being too clingy. I'm just wearing a slip and it worked fine! I would do it the same exact way next time.

I didn't do the gathers at the v-neckline. Instead I used my brooch act like the stitched gathering. That saved me time and headache.

As I mentioned above, it's not hemmed. When I get to hemming it, it will be a rolled hem done on my serger.

There are no fasteners. It just slips over your head.

So this scary dress turned out to be a lamb. Go figure.

And with this dress, so ends the Seven in Seven challenge. Thanks to everyone for your votes and wonderful comments! You guys are so complimentary and nice and it totally motivated me to keep on sewing. This was incredibly hard to pull-off and my family suffered greatly from my inattention. Considering that my sewing machine needs to go to the shop, I think I'll (and they'll) be getting a much needed break (I'll still be able to do next week's challenge).

And special thanks to Sarai & Colette Patterns for the awesome patterns to work with!

Also! Want to buy your own Oolong? Colette Patterns is offering Sew Weekly readers 20% off the patterns until May 18th. Just use the code: SEVEN20 (It's case sensitive).

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32 Comments

YAY! Congrats Mena! I can only imagine how much effort this took to make so many dresses in such a small amount of time. I bet your closet is busting at the ‘seams’. heh
I think I’ll have to give Oolong a chance, especially since it doesn’t require any zippers. :)

i love all the dresses you did for the challenge, but i gotta say – the oolong is absolutely my favorite! so pretty & fresh & bright! i actually gasped when i saw it :)
i wish more people would make this pattern up. i don’t care for the line drawing but all the finished versions i’ve seen are just stunning.
enjoy your mini-sewing break! you deserve it :)

It’s so gorgeous! I love it!
I also have the Oolong pattern and have been planning to use it for my next dress. I’m very tempted to skip the lining as you did. It looks great and you can’t tell that it’s not lined at all. Fab job!
Like everyone else, I’ve been so impressed that you’ve made all of these dresses in under a week. Hope your poor sewing machine gets fixed soon!

I’m really amazed, both by your managing succesfully an utterly crazy challenge, and by that Ooloong…
I NEVER paid attention to this pattern while browsing the Colette Pattern shop, and I was definitely wrong, it seems! You look fantastic in it. Definitely my favorite of your 7 dresses, if not of all the dresses I saw on your blog, so far. Bravo!

So, so, so pretty!!!! One of my very favourites from this challenge. The other is your Crepe and your Parfait. Well done, Mena!
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that your sewing commitment and prowess is awe-inspiring. :)

Mena, congratulations! You more than did it.
I will echo some of the other commenters and say that this is really the best one, although all of the others are also beautiful. Your Oolong has a 40s vibe to it. The print, the pattern and the fit, all came together.
Well done, and get a good rest!

Yes, the Oolong is so nice and easy to sew, and I LOVE the ’40s vibe! I love mine and plan to make more. And I knew you’d look great in this pattern even if you had doubts ;)(I’m so glad that fabric won out!). The flower is a great accent, I was going to add a bow to mine, but just wanted it finished already! Next time.
Congrats on an amazing challenge, 8 dresses in 6 days – insane! Insane, I tell you! Enjoy your time off :)

Bravo for completing this challenge! I am totally in awe that you were able to sew seven dresses in so little time–and each of them turned out gorgeous. I think this is perhaps my favorite: the fabric is lovely and suits the design well, and the cut of the dress is a knock-out on you! I usually shy away from bias-cut dresses, but I may just be convinced to buy this pattern. ;)
♥ Casey

What an amazing job you did on these dresses!!
Quick question: I’m a beginner and am just wondering, how do you know when you’ll be able to omit a zipper from a dress and be able to simply pull it on over your head??
Is it just trial and error?

About the Sew Weekly

The Sew Weekly began as Mena Trott's attempt to document the process of sewing all of her own clothes in 2010. In 2011, four other contributors (Debi Fry, Adey Lim, Veronica Darling & Sarah Gabbart) joined her and for 52 weeks, they sewed based on a particular weekly theme. In 2012, The Sew Weekly became a much larger group blog with over 130 contributors sewing along each week.